Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Visit

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I am generally not in favour of diplomacy by declaration. I think that the right way to go about this is negotiation, and we encourage all parties who either involve themselves directly or may have influence over the parties who are involved to encourage the reinstatement of the ceasefire and peace and negotiations to proceed, as the noble Lord says.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as chairman of Jerusalem Foundation in the UK, and, as such, that I was in Jerusalem earlier this month. To pre-empt an answer the Minister might give me: yes, I have been to Ramallah; yes, I have talked to the Palestinian Authority; and yes, I have talked most recently to east Jerusalemites. The east Jerusalemites I have talked to specifically state that they have no confidence in the Palestinian Authority, many of whom voiced support for Hamas’s actions. Was this raised with the Prime Minister at the meeting? Likewise, they have no confidence in a PA that have lost control over large parts of the West Bank—we now find that Jenin is, in effect, controlled by Iranian support. Was this raised with the Prime Minister, and what assessment have HMG made of its impact?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

These issues are raised. I do not think anybody is trying to pretend that the Palestinian Authority are functioning as a normal Government would like to—how could they? We are not naive about this. The point is, if not the Palestinian Authority, then who? If you believe in a two-state solution, there will need to be some form of governance at some point—we hope in the near future. The assessment of this Government, His Majesty’s Opposition, the Liberal Democrats and many others in both Houses is that working to build a relationship with the Palestinian Authority—to increase their capacity and make them into the competent Government that we want them to be—is the best option that we have at this stage.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My noble friend asks about the capacity and capability of the Palestinian Authority. It is fair to say that it does not today have the capability that he describes, and I do not think it would claim to. That is why we have set about this work on long-term security in the region and the understanding that the Palestinian Authority needs reform. Our support is designed to help it address the very real challenges, which I think we all recognise, through concrete reforms. That includes democratic renewal, widening civic space, improving accountability and transparency and fighting corruption. He is right to make that point; that is why we are undertaking the work that we are.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley]

My Lords, within our mutual aspiration for a two-state solution at some time—and it will be a long time in the future—clearly a big key is education. One of the things that really vexes and troubles the Jewish community in the United Kingdom is evidence of Palestinian textbooks that incite violence and encourage antisemitism. There are schools in Jerusalem which are the reverse of this. For example, there is the Hand in Hand school, financed by British financiers, in which half the pupils are Arab and half are Jewish, and they work together. Was the issue of these textbooks discussed in the meeting with the Prime Minister and, if not, can it be raised, because it is so important?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I am familiar with this issue. I do not know if it was specifically mentioned at the meeting, but I do know that it is raised regularly by Ministers because we recognise the concern around it.